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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26297533">please, don’t touch that door</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/unmootivated/pseuds/unmootivated'>unmootivated</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>part ii s: for just this moment lost in time... [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Crimson Flower, Edelgard says something about a door, F/F, Post-Crimson Flower, Post-Time Skip, pre-TWSitD war</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 09:00:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,048</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26297533</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/unmootivated/pseuds/unmootivated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Just one moment,” Edelgard called out, her voice breathless and airy.</p><p>“Is something the matter, Lady Edelgard? Should I come in-”</p><p>“Halt, Hubert!” Edelgard immediately started at the sound of the doors creaking open. Byleth gave a small grunt of displeasure as Edelgard wriggled out of her grasp. “Don’t you dare enter!”</p><p>Alternatively: Edelgard forgets to lock the door (again).</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Edelgard von Hresvelg &amp; My Unit | Byleth, Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>part ii s: for just this moment lost in time... [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2205639</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>143</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>please, don’t touch that door</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Calloused fingers ghosted over pale skin, tracing the scars along the muscular back. Edelgard shivered beneath the featherlike touch. Her head bent slightly forward and her arms crossed over her chest to prevent her half-undone dress from slipping past her shoulders.</p><p>“Byleth,” she breathed out. The other woman gave a soft hum of acknowledgment as she tilted her head down to plant a tender kiss on the back of Edelgard’s neck.</p><p>“Sorry,” said Byleth, completely unapologetically as her hand glided down to undo the final clasp holding Edelgard’s dress together. She gave a gentle tug and Edelgard uncrossed her arms to allow the crimson-colored garment to fall to the floor, pooling at her feet.</p><p>“You’re beautiful,” Byleth murmured against Edelgard’s neck as she circled her arms around the other woman’s waist from behind.</p><p>“Byleth, that’s enough,” chided Edelgard lightly. “You’re supposed to be helping me get changed before my next meeting.”</p><p>“But I want to hold you.”</p><p>Edelgard sighed, leaning into the other woman’s embrace. For a while, the two women simply stood in the middle of the bedroom, contentedly enjoying their close contact. Time ticked slowly away.</p><p>A series of knocks on one of the double doors brought them out of their reverie.</p><p>“Your Majesty, the meeting is about to start.”</p><p>“Just one moment,” Edelgard called out, her voice breathless and airy.</p><p>“Is something the matter, Lady Edelgard? Should I come in-”</p><p>“Halt, Hubert!” Edelgard immediately started at the sound of the doors creaking open. Byleth gave a small grunt of displeasure as Edelgard wriggled out of her grasp. “Don’t you dare enter!”</p><p>The two doors obediently slammed shut, and Edelgard hurried over to lock them. She turned at the sound of muffled snickering.</p><p>“I’m glad this amuses you so, Professor,” the emperor of all Fódlan said drily. “But if I’m late to my meeting, it is entirely your fault.”</p><p>“Yes, Hubert. Just give us one moment to <em> finish up </em>,” Byleth said loudly. A small, playful smile crossed her features as the professor emphasized the last bits of her sentence, intentionally making her final words sound vague and suggestive. She walked over to wrap her arms back around Edelgard again.</p><p>A loud, awkward cough could be heard from the other side of the doors. “I… I see. Please do hurry and… finish… whatever the two of you were doing.” Even through the thick wooden doors, the Minister of the Imperial Household sounded absolutely flustered. “I’ll be down the hallway.” His footsteps grew faint as he walked away.</p><p>Edelgard roughly elbowed the woman holding her, who only snickered again in response.</p><p>“<em> My light </em>,” said Edelgard in an exasperated tone.</p><p>“He won’t spread any rumors.” Byleth let go of the other woman and headed to the other side of the bedroom, taking a different dress down from its stand. This one was made of a dark ruby-colored fabric and was decorated with elaborate gold embroidery of Adrestian design. She moved to help Edelgard into it.</p><p>“That’s not what I… Oh, nevermind.”</p><p>When she finished dressing, Edelgard draped a golden-colored shawl over her shoulders. “Thank you, my darling,” she said as Byleth went to open the doors.</p><p>Byleth smiled in response, then with a great flourish and a grand sweep of her hand, bowed deeply to the other woman before her.</p><p>“After you, Your Majesty.”</p><p>“Stop that,” Edelgard admonished, though a soft smile danced upon her lips. She reached out to grasp Byleth’s outstretched hand in one of her own as she walked past the other woman through the open doorway. “This relentless teasing. What’s got you in such a good mood today?”</p><p>“You,” Byleth said simply as the two began walking hand in hand down the path toward the end of the corridor.</p><p>“I swear. Sometimes you just say things like that, and I don’t know what to say after.”</p><p>Hubert gave a slight bow of his head in greeting to the two women as they approached. “Your Majesty,” he said, a highly unamused expression on his face. “<em> Professor </em>.” </p><p>“Yes?” Byleth turned to look at the solemn man with an expectant small smile on her face.</p><p>“Please do not distract Her Majesty with such… lewd acts… right before her meetings.”</p><p>“We weren’t doing anything like that,” Edelgard interjected, mild annoyance leaking into her tone. “She was just helping me get changed.”</p><p>“It’s quite alright, Your Majesty,” Hubert merely responded with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. “What you do in your quarters with your wife-to-be is hardly my business.” He paused as a smirk made its way onto his countenance. “I do hope the professor was able to satisfy you fully, though. This next meeting is sure to be rather long. It would be most unfortunate if you were currently still sitting on any pent-up, unrelieved sexual desires.”</p><p>“<em> Hubert </em>,” Edelgard warned. “You are treading on very thin ice right now.”</p><p>“Apologies, Lady Edegard,” Hubert said. “I overstepped.” He gave a small hum. “You might want to conceal that hickey on your neck, however.”</p><p>Edelgard’s hand instinctively shot up to cover said mark at the base of her neck. Her face flushed a crimson red at the implication as she shot an irksome look in the minister’s direction. “That… wasn’t from just now.”</p><p>“Last night then?”</p><p>Byleth stepped closer to Edelgard to help adjust her shawl, bringing it up just a bit higher to hide the red blemish on her porcelain skin.</p><p>“I’ll try to remember to bite lower next time.”</p><p>Edelgard’s blush deepened. “Don’t just say things like that out loud!”</p><p>She let go of Byleth’s hand, and with a scathing glare at her two advisors, the emperor spun around and marched ahead on her own toward the meeting room.</p><p>~❀~</p><p>“I’m really sorry, my heart,” Byleth said with big, round puppy-dog-like eyes. She chased after the Fódlan emperor, who promptly ignored her significant other as she continued to stride briskly down the hallway away from the meeting room.</p><p>Edelgard turned sharply around a corner. Then another. She wanted to pull her hair out in frustration. </p><p>Just as Hubert had stated earlier, the meeting had been excruciatingly long. For hours on end, the representatives of various territories throughout Fódlan had argued back and forth about Edelgard’s plan to slacken the nobility’s power over society and eventually rid the continent of the crest system. </p><p>(Well, not the exact details of her whole plan - she hadn’t told them that much - but they certainly hated the idea of free education for all. Beside her, Ferdinand had been absolutely affronted by the nobility’s poor reception to the idea, his lividness rolling off of him in scorching waves as he joined in on the argument. This part of the plan had initially been his idea, after all.)</p><p>And while Edelgard had managed to keep a level head throughout it all and eventually appeased every concern brought to the table, she had had a significant amount of difficulty keeping her attention off of Byleth.</p><p>For some unfathomable reason, the emperor’s fiancée had been insistent on distracting her beloved. With small kicks underneath the table and not-at-all-subtle suggestive looks across the table, Byleth had practically driven Edelgard insane.</p><p>And now, the monarch planned to “punish” her dear professor for her unwarranted crimes.</p><p>Edelgard stepped into a nearby office, pulling Byleth in after her. She shut the double doors behind them with a soft click, then glared up at the other woman.</p><p>“It appears you don't comprehend the consequences of angering the emperor,” Edelgard said as she pushed Byleth up against the doors. She stood on her tiptoes to press a kiss on a corner of Byleth’s mouth.</p><p>“Are you going to help me understand, then?” Byleth’s voice was low and husky as Edelgard drew her head back. The emperor let out a small hum as she leaned forward once more to meet Byleth’s lips with her own.</p><p>A loud cough sounded from behind them. The two women immediately halted in their movements.</p><p>“I would leave… but you two are blocking the only exit.” Lysithea’s aloof and mildly disgusted voice could be heard from the side. Edelgard quickly got off of Byleth and turned to face the young mage.</p><p>“Lysithea! What are you doing here?” Edelgard asked in a panicked voice. She stepped away from the doorway as Byleth took a wide sidestep in the opposite direction. The monarch tried to will the blush from her face at having been caught propositioning her future empress.</p><p>Lysithea quirked an eyebrow at the emperor. “I was dropping off some notes I took following the meeting we just had,” the magic user said wryly. “Honestly, could you two not wait until you both got back to your room?” She grimaced as she paused by the now unblocked doorway to look back at the women behind her. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go rinse my eyes out and overindulge in sweets or something to forget about what I just witnessed here.” </p><p>“There are more Adrestian sweet cakes in the dining hall if you want them.” Edelgard wrung at her hands nervously, feeling bad for potentially traumatizing the younger woman. “I had some myself this morning, actually.”</p><p>She cleared her throat and continued on when Lysithea didn’t immediately respond. “They’re still a bit too sweet for my own liking, so I find that they don’t really help ease my sweet tooth cravings. But I do know you rather like them, so I wanted to let you know in case you did want any...”</p><p>She ceased her rambling. That was quite enough. Edelgard knew that Lysithea didn’t like to be coddled. Besides, it was likely that Lysithea already knew about the sweet cakes in the dining hall.</p><p>For a moment, Lysithea stared at Edelgard unblinkingly. Then, the mage’s lips thinned into a taut line as she turned to address Byleth instead. “I’m pretty sure the only sweet that’ll fully ease Edelgard’s cravings is you, Professor.” </p><p>She glanced back at the ruler of all Fódlan. “Enjoy your snack, Edelgard.” Without another word, the gremory left the room, slamming the doors shut behind her.</p><p>Edelgard gaped at where Lysithea had just stood mere moments before. The audacity of the younger woman had left the emperor speechless in a mixture of shock and mortification.</p><p>Byleth moved to lean back against the closed doorway once more. She began to crack up in quiet laughter, sliding down the length of the doors until she sat cross-legged on the floor.</p><p>The emperor had half a mind to rebuke the other woman for finding such great amusement in this utterly embarrassing fiasco, but one look at the former mercenary convinced her otherwise. The sight of Byleth overflowing with joy made Edelgard’s heart soar, and the monarch couldn’t help but to break down in laughter herself.</p><p>She slid down to the floor beside Byleth in a fit of giggles. Byleth wrapped an arm around her other half’s shoulders and pulled the smaller woman into her lap, nuzzling her head into Edelgard’s hair. And as their laughter began to simmer down, Edelgard brought her own hands up over Byleth’s back to return the hug.</p><p>For a moment, they simply sat like that, trapped in a quiet enclosure of their own making.</p><p>The great war against the Church of Seiros was over. And while those who slithered in the dark still lurked in the shadows, Edelgard and Byleth had time now. Time to be alone together for just a few fleeting minutes. Time for a brief moment of respite.</p><p>“We should probably head back to the bedroom,” Edelgard said at last.</p><p>“Or we could just make love here- ow!”</p><p>Edelgard had leaned back and swatted at Byleth’s arm. The emperor glowered intimidatingly at the other woman as Byleth feigned injury from the light smack.</p><p>“Must you keep teasing me?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>And so, as the two got up off the floor to leave the room, Edelgard began to tease Byleth back with small nips along the other woman’s exposed neck. And as the pair fumbled their way out into the corridor, the emperor’s hands began to flutter all over her betrothed’s body, without a care of who might see them.</p><p>And what the two would later do in the privacy of their bedchamber, none but the two of them would ever know.</p><p>- ❀ -</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you didn’t automatically read the title in Edelgard’s voice, then are you even an actual Edeleth fan. (I’m kidding, please don’t hurt me.)</p><p>I couldn’t sleep some nights ago, so I let my Edeleth brainworms go wild and this is the result. Life’s been really stressful for me, so I hope this fic helps to alleviate some of the stress anyone reading this is feeling too, if any.</p><p>Anyway, I don't think I can express how much I appreciate all the comments and kudos ppl have left for my fics. So… Thank you so, so much for reading. And even if this fic wasn’t your cup of tea, I hope you have a good one and please take care. &lt;3</p><p>Edit on 9/8: I opened up my notifications today, and I kind of want to cry... Thank you for all the kind comments! I actually feel really bad about my previous A/N now, so I've amended it by removing the self-criticism.</p><p>I'm going to take a break from fics in general for a bit, at least until my life gets a bit more sorted out. Thanks again for all the support! And I’m wishing you all the best, always. ^^</p><p>Edit on 10/23: I’m back now, kind of. =)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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